National Vietnam War Veterans Day will be observed on the USS Hornet on March 25th. (Note: The official date of the holiday is March 29th but the museum is not open that day). Join us as we honor and celebrate our Vietnam War Veterans.

All Veterans will be allowed on for free. 

Program:

• Our featured guests will be the Flying Tigers Flight Attendants. Read about their story here.
• Our MC will be our very own crewmember Keith Hedley. Keith is a Navy Veteran who served in the Combat Information Center on multiple ships during his time in service. (Full bio below)
• We will have a short service honoring our Vietnam War Veterans ending in a wreath toss off the ship honoring those we have lost (this will include a tribute to Supervisor Richard Valle).
• The Ladies First Choir of Concord High School will be on hand to perform. Read more about them here.
• We will screen our new UH-34D Seahorse video
• Finally, the Memorial Squadron will conduct a Flyover at approximately 1 PM.

Bio of Keith Hedley:

Enlisted August 1966, boot camp at San Diego Recruit Training Depot. Upon graduation I reported on board the USS GALVESTON CLG-3 in San Diego. Assigned to OI Division and worked in Combat Information Center. Feb 1967 my first deployment was in the opposite direction that we all assumed; Panama Canal and then the Mediterranean and the 6th Fleet. While we thought we were missing the Vietnam action the ship was not far away during the Six Day War. By the time of my next deployment in 1968 I advanced in rate to Radarman 2nd class (RD2). This time the GALVESTON headed to the Western Pacific and the Gulf of Tonkin. Our deployment was cut short but when the ship returned to San Diego there were orders waiting for me to report to a destroyer in Long Beach that was headed back to WestPac. While on the USS James E KYES DD-787, I continued to serve as a CIC watch supervisor and Electronic Warfare supervisor. I was on the KYES during Apollo 11 and the tragic collision between the USS EVANS and HMAS MELBOURNE resulting in 74 American deaths.